Various playing card games such as, for example, poker, twenty-one and black jack are commonly played on gaming tables. Such tables often have felt or other fabric covered surfaces designed to facilitate dealing and handling of cards placed thereupon. Such surfaces may also include designs printed or otherwise applied thereto indicating areas for bet and card placement as well as the positions of the dealer and player(s).
In many playing card games, some, or all of a players cards must remain hidden in order to each player to maintain a strategic advantage. Disclosure of the identity of any or all of a players cards to another player or the dealer could detrimentally effect the player's chance of winning a hand. However, at the same time, a player must, of course, be able to view his or her own cards. Often, cards dealt to a player are discretely viewed by that player, one by one. However, despite felt, velour or other card table surface covers and/or treatments, quickly and discretely lifting a card from a tables surface may be difficult. Gaming tables of the past have not heretofore provided any significant assistance to a player attempting to so discretely lift his card(s) from the table surface—either to momentarily view the card or to lift it completely off the table and into the player's “hand”—.
It would be highly advantageous if a gaming table were disclosed which provided a means to assist a card player in quickly and easily removing a playing card from the table's surface. It would also be highly advantageous if a gaming table topper were developed that was especially designed, configured for placement upon a table so as to provide a surface with a configuration especially adapted to assist a player in removing a card from a gaming table.